Wound dressings for application against external wounds of humans and/or animals are known. Typically, injury to the dermis of a human and/or animal results in an external wound and a bandage and/or band-aid is applied over the surface of the wound to encourage healing of said wound.
Wound treatment and management has been proven to be challenging due to the fact that various extrinsic and intrinsic factors govern significant roles during the healing process. This is particularly evident in external wounds that include damage to skin of a human or animal body.
The wound healing process typically comprises three main phases, namely: the inflammatory phase, the proliferative phase, and the remodeling phase.
The inflammatory phase prepares the wound site for healing by immobilising the wound and causing it to swell and become painful. Bleeding occurs and homeostasis is initiated, furthermore a clotting mechanism is elicited by blood platelets. The inflammatory phase also results in vasodilation and phagocytosis whereby histamines and serotonins are released.
The proliferative phase involves the proliferation of epidermal cells at the wound margin behind which actively migrating cells travel about 3 cm from a point of origin in all directions toward the wound site. This process usually occurs 2 days to 3 weeks following injury and results in granulation tissue at the wound site. Granulation is the effect of fibroblasts and macrophages providing a continuing source of growth factors necessary to stimulate angiogenesis and fibroplasias.
The final stage is known as the remodelling stage and usually begins three weeks post injury, and lasts up to 2 years. Remodelling of dermal tissue to produce greater tensile strength whereby new collagen is formed is the main aim of this phase. The principle cell type involved is the fibroblast. Collagen molecules begin to form whereby they undergo further modification and molecules begin to form in a characteristic triple helical structure.
The above phases often overlap and a standard issue wound dressing is not designed to provide in use an environment which facilitates optimal responses from the different phases. Often wound dressings are only useful during one of the abovementioned stages.
A known disadvantage in the current state of the art includes adherence of wound dressings to wounds upon removal of said wound dressing. Removal of known wound dressings often damages several layers of the dermis that have been repaired and/or are partially repaired. It is also known that in order to promote general wound healing including for example angiogenesis and connective tissue proliferation a moist wound environment should be encouraged. Often, known wound dressings dry out the wound which is disadvantageous for the wound healing process in general.
Injuries to the dermis may often result in infection, inflammation and/or sepsis. Typically, wounds are first cleaned, then various active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) are administered to the wound site, and finally the wound dressing is applied. Access to the various APIs and additionally the wound dressing may not always be available and a skilled medical practitioner may not always be at hand to assist in deciding which APIs need to be administered.
Furthermore, wound dressings often break and/or tear increasing the changing or replacement frequency. This disrupts the wound healing process and adds to the cost of wound treatment and/or management.
There is a need for a wound dressing that at least ameliorates one of the above mentioned disadvantages.